Haggai 1:15-2:9

Common English Bible

¹⁵on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king.

Encouraging the people

2 On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the Lord’s word came through Haggai the prophet: ²Say to Judah’s governor Zerubbabel, Shealtiel’s son, and to the chief priest Joshua, Jehozadak’s son, and to the rest of the people:

³Who among you is left who saw this house in its former glory?
How does it look to you now?
    Doesn’t it appear as nothing to you?
⁴So now, be strong, Zerubbabel, says the Lord.
Be strong, High Priest Joshua, Jehozadak’s son,
        and be strong, all you people of the land, says the Lord.
Work, for I am with you, says the Lord of heavenly forces.
⁵As with our agreement when you came out of Egypt,
        my spirit stands in your midst.
Don’t fear.
⁶This is what the Lord of heavenly forces says:
In just a little while, I will make the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry land quake.
⁷I will make all the nations quake.
        The wealth of all the nations will come.
I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of heavenly forces.
⁸The silver and the gold belong to me, says the Lord of heavenly forces.
⁹This house will be more glorious than its predecessor, says the Lord of heavenly forces.
        I will provide prosperity in this place, says the Lord of heavenly forces.

Psalm 43

Common English Bible

Psalm 43

43 Establish justice for me, God!
    Argue my case against ungodly people!
    Rescue me from the dishonest and unjust!
²Because you are my God, my protective fortress!
    Why have you rejected me?
    Why do I have to walk around,
        sad, oppressed by enemies?
³Send your light and truth—those will guide me!
    Let them bring me to your holy mountain,
        to your dwelling place.
⁴Let me come to God’s altar—
let me come to God, my joy, my delight—
    then I will give you thanks with the lyre,
    God, my God!

⁵Why, I ask myself, are you so depressed?
    Why are you so upset inside?
    Hope in God!
        Because I will again give him thanks,
        my saving presence and my God.

Luke 9:18-22

Common English Bible

Following Christ

¹⁸Once when Jesus was praying by himself, the disciples joined him, and he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”

¹⁹They answered, “John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others that one of the ancient prophets has come back to life.”

²⁰He asked them, “And what about you? Who do you say that I am?”

Peter answered, “The Christ sent from God.”

²¹Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell this to anyone. ²²He said, “The Human One^[a] must suffer many things and be rejected—by the elders, chief priests, and the legal experts—and be killed and be raised on the third day.”

Read full chapter